1. Field of Invention
The invention relates generally to carriers, supporters, holders or storage apparatuses for elastic cords, and more particularly to bungee storage devices and related methods of use.
2. Description of Related Art
Bungee cords (also referred to as bungees or shock cords) are well known devices that provide a convenient tool for absorbing shock, or tying down or maintaining the positioning of an article in a given location. For instance, articles being transported in a truck bed can be subjected to a variety of forces, such as wind and road conditions. Such articles are tightly secured to the truck using bungee cords to prevent unwanted movement, damage, or loss of the articles.
A typical bungee cord includes a resilient cord, which is typically made of a cylindrical or rectangular-shaped elastic material, with fasteners made of metal or plastic attached to each end of the resilient cord. The bungee cord may have different configurations based on the shape of each fastener. For example, a bungee cord may have a fastener shaped as a frustoconical spiral spring at one end and a hook at the other end. Alternatively, the fastener may be formed in the shape of an “S” with oppositely facing hooks at the ends of the fastener. The hook may be U shaped or J shaped so that the bungee cord can be releasably engaged to a strut, post, or other object. Since the hooks can further engage with each other or along a portion of the resilient cord, bungee cords may become entangled if loosely carried or stored in a pile, or the like, to require a significant investment of time to disentangle the stored bungees before they can be used. Various storage devices are traditionally available to organize or carry bungee cords.
Rudd, U.S. Pat. No. 7,383,959, teaches a bungee carousel that provides a support and storage apparatus for elastic fastening devices, such as bungee cords. The cylindrical carousel configuration includes slots and apertures for holding various bungee cords, and may accommodate different lengths of the bungee cords. The bungee carousel may be hung from an axle in the horizontal position or mounted in a stand in a vertical or horizontal position to accommodate a variety of storage locations. While the Rudd device is elongate in construction and may accommodate bungee cords, it is of entirely different construction, and is not modular in nature, and cannot be disassembled for easier shipping and storage.
Towers, U.S. Pat. No. 6,099,060, teaches a generally rectangular frame-like carrier for a plurality of various sized, stretchable, elastic bungee cords. The carrier has at least three spaced apart cross arms for supporting bungee cords in an organized and compact manner between any two of the cross arms. The cross arms are appropriately spaced such that commercially available sizes of bungee cords are supported on the carrier in a slightly stretched condition. Thus, the cords are supported under enough tension on the carrier to resist disengagement and maintain proper positioning, yet a small enough amount of tension is required to prevent an accidently disengaged cord from creating a hazard as it snaps back into a non-tensioned condition.
Anspach, U.S. Pat. No. 7,387,211, teaches another generally rectangular carrier for bungee cords, which folds and nests such that bungee cords mounted on one portion of the carrier interfit with bungee cords on another portion of the carrier to facilitate the compact storage and transport of the bungee cords. However, the carrier has a limited storage capacity in a folded configuration and a larger footprint in an unfolded configuration.
O'Flaherty et. al., U.S. 2012/0085771, teaches a device for storing bungee cords. The device includes a tube having notches cut into each end along with slots cut into its length. The notches and slots provide connection points for bungee cords to the tube. However, the tube does not have a flexible design that can be manipulated by a user to dynamically increase its storage capacity.
Baloun, U. S. 2007/0284326, teaches an elastic strap storage apparatus including a first set of cross members, and a second set of cross members attached to the first set of cross members. The first set of cross members and the second set of cross members have stops on each end of the cross member. However, the apparatus does not provide simplicity and ease to access or remove short-length elastic straps such as bungee cords attached to it while multiple long-length elastic straps are attached to the first set of cross members and the second set of cross members.
Dunnavant, Jr., U.S. Pat. No. 5,845,787, teaches a rack for storage of elongated resilient members, such as bungee cords, which have fasteners connected to opposite end regions of the elongated resilient members. The rack has a pair of opposed sides with first and second support members connected to an upper portion of each of the sides and a third support member connected to a lower portion of the sides. The first and second support members are disposed a predetermined distance apart. The first and second support members each have a predetermined width which is sufficient to be releasably engaged by the fasteners of the elongated resilient members. An elongated resilient member can be stored on the rack by engaging one of the fasteners on the first support member, pulling the resilient member around the third support member, and engaging the other fastener to the second support member. Since the rack requires a greater number of support members arranged apart from each other by a certain distance to store the elongated resilient members, the overall rack weight is increased that hampers maneuverability without improving storage capacity of the rack.
Weber, U.S. Pat. No. 5,020,759, teaches a holder for extension cords or the like including a vertically disposed support having a multiple support teeth extending substantially horizontally outwardly therefrom. The cord is supported on the support members in a looped fashion and a gate is then lowered with respect thereto to maintain the loops of the cord on the support members. The cord may be removed by pulling the same from the support members with the gate acting as a latching device which moves slightly upwardly as each loop is pulled from the holder while maintaining the remaining loops of the cord thereon. However at each support member, multiple extension cords being stored in unstretched or non-tensioned condition may cross over each other to get entangled. Moreover as the gate locks or unlocks each of the support members simultaneously, access to an extension cord stored on one support member risks falling-off of other extension cords stored on the remaining support members.
The present invention fulfills the needs and drawbacks of the above references, and provides further advantages as described in the following summary.